Scripture 8

Chosen and Set Free

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,” (Ephesians 1:3-8)

(I will only be memorizing Ephesians 1:4-5, but wanted to read this whole section of scripture together before we pull out just a few verses to memorize.)

Shea shared a story in Residency when we talked about what it means to be adopted into God’s family. He shared something along the lines of how there were children who lived in an orphanage, and ate cockroaches and rotten bananas. Then, one of the kids was adopted into a rich family that would provide fresh homemade food, great meals, etc. He said, could you imagine if this child still chose to eat cockroaches and bananas, not enjoying the feast that is provided for them as new members of a rich family?

Isn’t this what we do as believers? We are adopted into the family of God, chosen to be holy and blameless, and yet we live as if we are still a part of our old family, eating our old disgusting food that has no nourishment at all!

I feel like I have talked with a lot of ladies lately and this theme continues to come up. Ladies having a hard time resting in God’s love and grace, walking in freedom instead of guilt, etc. Are you there? Is it difficult to believe you are truly forgiven? Redeemed? Holy and blameless? Can I encourage you to meditate on this portion of scripture? It has brought so much comfort to me . . . I have put in bold the words “love, chosen, adopted, forgiven, redeemed.” When my mind is filled with thoughts of guilt, shame, etc. I try to replace those words with His words that He has spoken about me!

Are you walking in freedom? Are you feasting on the Bread of Life (John 6:35) and drinking from His river of delights (Psalm 36:8)? Or are you still eating cockroaches and rotten bananas?

I want to hear from you! Where are you? How can I pray for you? Is memorizing scripture in your heart helping you to take your thoughts captive (2 Cor 10:5) and renew your mind (Romans 12:2) so that you do not sin against the LORD (Psalm 119)?

"For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you . . .” (Deuteronomy 7:6-8)

P.S. I will be spending my time with the LORD in Ephesians in these next few weeks/months. If any of you want to read along with me, I am going to follow Charles Swindoll’s online course, here’s the link:
http://daily.insight.org/site/PageServer?pagename=lol